The museum’s story

March 12, 2011

Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is the oldest Holocaust museum in the United States.

In 1961 at Hollywood High School, a group of survivors taking English as a second language classes found one another and shared their experiences. They discovered that each of them had a photograph, concentration camp uniform, or other precious primary source object from the Holocaust era. They decided that these artifacts needed a permanent home where they could be displayed safely and in perpetuity. They also wanted a place to memorialize their dead and help to educate the world so that no one would ever forget. Some of these founding survivors remain active on the LAMH board of directors today.

Article Photos

An view of exhibits in the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Architect and Marquette native Aaron Leppanen was project manager for the museum’s award-winning new home. (Photo courtesy of Aaron Leppanen)

LAMH is always free because the founding survivors insisted that no visitors ever be turned away from learning about the Holocaust for lack of an entry fee.

On Oct. 14, 2010, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust opened the doors to its new building in Pan Pacific Park.

The new building, designed by acclaimed architect Hagy Belzberg, has one of the largest intensive green roofs in California and is on track to receive LEED Gold Certification. The design received the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission Design Honor Award and the Green Building Design Award.